The aim of the course is to provide basic information of what "exhibition space" means. In the context of this course, the term is understood as an interface for artistic messages addressed to a certain form of the audience (variable in time and space). This interspace has many different forms influenced both by the historical development, and the plural and heterogeneous subject, both on the side of the author and on the side of the recipient. To understand the multilayered process of presentation of art works to the public, it is necessary to find answers to the following questions: a) Why exhibit works of art? b) What is being exhibited? c) Who is the exhibited work intended for? The answer to the first question will be sought for in lectures overviewing history of the social role of European art. Due to limited time, attention will be focused only on a few examples. Special emphasis will then be put on lectures on the origins and development of public art and in particular New Genre public art and current trends in public art. Four lectures try to answer the second question. What is a work of art? The answer to this question implicitly points out essential aspects of the exhibition process, the specific reasons why we decide for the respective method of presentation, and the logic of historical development of presenting artworks. The third question summarizes the issues of exhibiting art. Who is the potential recipient, or who is the artistic message addressed to? This also raises questions like why is art created and exhibited, what does it mean for the contemporary society, what could it mean, and under what conditions? To what extent does art develop autonomously and to what extend does it develop depending on general changes in the society, or how does art influences these social changes? In summary: what is the social role of contemporary art? Method of the course combines a systematic approach drawing on the available aesthetic, theoretical and philosophical literature, and a historical approach following historical examples of the social role to specify and illustrate theoretical premises. Both lines are supplemented by specific examples taken from both world famous works of art, and from the lecturer's personal experience. Students are required to give attention to lectures and to cooperate actively by means of clarifying questions, and also to cooperate actively in the form of essays on literature associated with the subject, and on exhibitions and events (reviews). To pass the exam, in addition to knowledge of basic information, the students are required to demonstrate their understanding of what has been discussed in the lectures.
The gained capabilities constitute an encompassment and an aquirement of knowledge and experience in the given field of study, they result from a concrete annotation of the subject and are aimed at a profile´s fulfilment of the graduate of the given field of study.